Deila remains defiant despite Europa League defeat

Ronny Deila admitted Celtic had suffered a “disappointing night” in losing 2-1 to Molde in the Europa League but insists he will work hard to turn things around.

Goals from Mohamed Elyounoussi and Daniel Berg Hestad saw Molde complete the double over the Scottish champions, who are now stuck at the foot of the Group A table.

An early exit from the competition, following on from their failure to reach the group stages of the Champions League, could see Deila’s position come under pressure.

However, the Norwegian has no intention of walking away, instead he remaining optimistic, with Celtic still in with a chance of making the last 32.

“I love being here. I want to be here,” Deila told BT Sport.

“We can develop a lot. I’m going to work so hard to do that and turn this [situation] around.

“We are in a good position domestically. In Europe we haven’t had good enough results recently. But, we still have a chance to go through.”

Asked if he needed to qualify for the knockout stages to keep his job, Deila replied: “That’s not for me to answer.”

Deila – who saw Nir Bitton shown a straight red card for hauling down Ola Kamara with 13 minutes remaining – criticised his side’s defending, admitting they gave away “easy goals” in the first half.

“I don’t think we got up to the level and tempo we had against Aberdeen. We didn’t press as well as we did in that game,” he said.

“Having said that, we again conceded two easy goals. They didn’t have many more chances than the two they scored. We had chances. We should have scored more goals as well.

“Overall it’s a disappointing night. But, as there was a draw in the other game [between Ajax and Fenerbahce], we still have a chance.

“We are going to fight until the end to get through.”